Kellogg's fate decided tonight at PID meeting

The fate of a Paradise water director will be decided tonight. There will be a special meeting of the Paradise Irrigation District to determine if Division 2 Director Bill Kellogg will keep his spot on the PID board.

His eligibility was called into question last month after District General Manager George Barber was informed that Kellogg was appointed to the Butte County Resource Conservation District board.

In a letter to the PID board, Barber called for Kellogg to resign his post, citing Government Code 1099, the Doctrine of Incompatible Offices.

In his letter Barber said sitting on both boards creates a conflict of interest and a clash of duties.

He noted that PID has had contracts with the conservation district in the past and will likely contract with them in the future.

For his part, Kellogg disputed the claim that he had a conflict of interest by sitting on the two boards.

Kellogg said the two boards have two completely different jobs; one deals primarily in land management and the other in water service.

Kellogg was appointed by newly elected 5th District Butte County Supervisor Doug Teeter, who also said he didn't see a conflict, saying he thinks Barber's interpretation of Government Code 1099 is incorrect.

He pointed to Butte County rice farmer Bryce Lundberg who serves on water district boards and was recently appointed by Governor Jerry Brown to the State Board of Food and Agriculture.

Lundberg is the chairman of the Northern California Water Association and serves on the board of the California Farm Water Coalition and the Western Canal Water District.

Teeter said Brown was an attorney general and would know if his appointments created a conflict.

Kellogg said he has spoken with Teeter and Butte County's attorney and neither thought there was an actual conflict.

The final piece of the puzzle was the determination of PID attorney Dustin Cooper, who met with district officials last week.

Cooper's findings may be presented at tonight's meeting.

Barber said he couldn't comment on the findings because the conversations have been stamped "attorney-client privilege."

"Only the board can authorize release of that information," he said.

The question of Kellogg's eligibility for the Division 2 seat came on the heels of the PID shooting down a salary increase request by Barber that would have seen his salary jump by almost $40,000 by March 2014.

Previous to the salary request, Kellogg alleged Barber and Board President Sep Carola created a conflict of interest by using Miller Glass for the district's corporate yard project. Miller Glass employs Carola. In that instance it was found that the law and the circumstances weren't too broad to determine if there was a clear violation.

Also on the special meeting agenda tonight is the proposed purchase of 1,770 pounds of trout at a cost of $6,991.50.

A $10,320 contract extension for inspection services is also on the special meeting agenda.

The meeting is at 6:30 p.m. at the PID boardroom located at 6332 Clark Road.